"He sat, feet on the table, and said there were several options. Unexplained-Mysteries.com See more. Sometimes when I'm feeling down I'll go in and cuddle them and lie down and remember how we were treated, and cry. They would just use anything that came to hand. Girls abused by nuns often speak of the psychological and spiritual damage done to them, stolen childhood and adolescent years of friendships, dates, dances, and often God. "When the Sister died, we were told to pray for her in Heaven, but we all prayed that we were glad. It is also a powerful order across the world, and its published accounts show it is worth pounds 154m. There was nothing unusual about it. "Wetting the bed was a nightmare - they'd strip the covers off and the child would be made to stand with the wet sheets for hours, to set an example. Even then Aitken was shadowed by unhappiness. She was eight. Why? That was when her main tormentor at the Nazareth House in Middlesbrough, Sister Laurence, died. Its crucial for nuns to be aware of this and to try to break the cycle. It was work, work, work. Currie was horrified and took himself to the police to tell them about his memories of the place he remembered as the "House of Hell". I think what happens is that religion is handed down from generation to generation in what ever form it maybe and catholics had no problem sparing the rod as that's how they grew up. and so on. The stigma that nuns are cruel is somewhat of a misnomer. If you were scrubbing the floor and looked up you could get a whack over the head or even be kneed in the face. Its not easy to always be modest. It was born out of a fascination with the women who choose . "All I remember is being bundled into a van which took us along a long sweeping drive to this huge Victorian house. His map also showed a plywood panel, a false wall, and behind that panel, he said, were some significant documents. I'll also never forget her abject cruelty. "You could get hammered for anything. Today I have all the soft cuddly toys I want, a room full of them. Give us an apology. This embarrassed both church and state in the 1940s. The Poor Sisters of Nazareth were founded in the mid-19th century in Hammersmith, London, to take care of the young and the old. Now, 30 years on, he wanted the police and his solicitor to find those hidden documents because, he believed, they would confirm his recollections of his time at the orphanage. (11 Reasons Why), Why Are Vegans So Entitled? As . There was no record of Betsy after that incident, nothing. The Nazareth House children face another difficulty: the time bar. He had put a cross by one of the windows in the eaves. My sister got caned on the hands and the back for that. FOR Vera Willshire, who is now 75, the year 1939 was one of the happiest of her life. "It's up to us whether we want to forgive. "I didn't want money. reading cinemas refund; kevin porter jr dad shooting; illinois teacher and administrator salaries; john barlow utah address; jack prince obituary; saginaw s'g m1 carbine serial numbers; how old was amram when moses was born; etang des deux amants carp fishing Though it was three miles away and there was a school bus, we were only given enough money to make the journey once a day, so depending on the weather we'd take it in the morning or afternoon. "I was passed to the child abuse unit at the age of 39." Her first night was marked by her younger sister's screams as she was taken off to a separate dormitory. If they see other nuns being cruel, they may think its okay to act the same way. "I left when I was 13 with a terrible stammer that I am sure must have been because of living in fear of the nuns. Contrast Naughty Nuns. Finnegan told The Post she approached SNAP for support a few years earlier. ", Francis Docherty is 58 and runs a helpline, Historical Survivors of In-Care Abuse, whose cases include people as old as 95 who are still suffering, still searching for their lost brothers and sisters, still trying to sort things out. well practise what you preach, "He who is without sin." you should know the rest, but then again i'm not to sure you do? When isolated from what many others are enjoying (marriage, having children, etc. Right to her death, Mum kept saying, 'If only I hadn't got ill.' She thought it was her fault. In 1981, the school became the co-ed St. Johns Prep. Now, decades later, more than 500 former inmates are suing the nuns for damages. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. This kind of behavior applies to nuns, as well. One bed-wetter was held out of the window by her ankles as punishment. The Irish Examiner newspaper, which has investigated the finances of the religious orders involved in running the laundries, says they owned assets in 2012 of 1.5bn euros ($1.9bn, 1.2bn). He avoided school, sauntered around shops, cinemas, anywhere warm, until he was picked up and sent to an approved school for "delinquents". Its going to come out as physical abuse of children and sexual abuse. The priest asked me his name and whether he was still doing it. So we swapped our sheets for her, rinsed the wet one out and went to dry it on the radiator. Ranged against them are the Catholic hierarchy, the asylums' insurers, who insist that there must be no admission of liability, and a sceptical hauteur that flourishes across the political and legal establishment. Thank God they chose the nuns. The punishment was being forced to stand in front of a nun's cell with the soiled linen on your head or being sat in the galvanized steel bath while two assistants poured buckets of cold water over your head. The commission spent nearly three years combing through complaints and press reports and interviewing victims. (9 Reasons Why). Today it is different, but I believe the stories I have been told. The family book I am writting has so many of these stories in it I almost hate to put them in there. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Get up to 10% off using the Booking.com app, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected product with this eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK April 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this April, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. Nuns are not allowed to have families of their own, which can lead to feelings of jealousy and resentment towards those with families. Mrs Guerrier, who is now 73 and lives in Tottenham, north London, said: "The nuns were extremely harsh. The children were beaten regularly and the nuns were never really nice to them. Currie took Cameron Fyfe, other lawyers and Nazareth House officials to the building, to the locked door of his former bedroom. (11 Reasons Why), Why Does Batman Not Kill? None the less, there have been scandals and debates within the church about the ill-treatment of children for decades. 1. Now the Sisters of Nazareth - the order also has houses in Australia, South Africa, the United States and Ireland - are the subject of an international campaign to call them to account for a regime of violence. What gives? The woman owned me.. Not a day went by without someone getting a battering. Only my opinion of course, but I'd blame it on a lack of physical and emotional shenanigans with members of the opposite sex. It was a dreadful experience and I will never forget it. The military and emergency services found those abandoned, bereaved children attractive recruits because, though they lacked education, they knew how to iron their shirts, polish their shoes and obey orders. Think for example of other people in committed relationships. "My sister and her friend Betsy Owens were playing with a beach ball. ", Docherty, too, has joined the action against the Daughters of Charity and the Sisters of Nazareth. our nuns would cut a finger off if you were late for class, some kids only had thumbs, we had to learn a new word every day if you couldn't pronounce it the nun would set about you with a baseball bat, on the day we had to learn Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ten kids got killed, we slept outside on the grass, in the winters we covered ourselves with cowpats (dung) to keep warm, we had turnips for breakfast lunch and dinner, but on sundays we had a real treat for dinner, the turnip was cooked, my aunt on visiting stalag sacred cross found the grave of the mother superior and dug her up, she then used her skull as a toilet, but she was a dirty cursing perverted old b**** herself. Thank you again for your insight. She asked me to go upstairs and tell her how I was getting on. Learn more. "I remember being told repeatedly by the nuns that I had been put there because I was naughty and because my family did not want me. In most movies, nuns are seen as strange recluses from society. You could get beaten for nothing at all. And then she left. They know what a 'broken heart' feels like and the betrayal that goes with it. Or maybe it's just being in a power of authority with god as your boss. Betsy was drowned. Sheriff Colin Harris ordered that several other charges be rejected and said that he would only admonish, rather than imprison, her because of her age and her health. Bruises go away, but the horror stays in your mind. "Sister Alphonso didn't use leather straps, she used her fists, she had some strength." It was only 30 years later, when other Nazareth House survivors began to speak out about their experiences, that his childhood and its bleak effects could no longer be dismissed as his imaginings. ", Punishment was perpetually lurking: "You never knew when or what. "Some would smack you as they came by. "They'd come round the beds and make sure you were in the right position - flat on your back with arms crossed out of the covers (otherwise you'd be touching yourself). Although her alleged abuser died in 2014, Finnegan said she still cannot bring herself to discuss the abuse openly, even after years of therapy and writing in her Abuse by nuns blog. Then there were all these flashbacks." In the 1960s, when he was in his 30s, he sought help. Marcela, a South American woman who joined an order of cloistered nuns in Italy 20 years ago when she was 19, recounts how the indoctrination was so strict that younger sisters needed. Nuns indeed put in a lot of hard work. "I just want it out of my mind." When my grandma first went there she only spoke her native language, she spoke no english at all. Every surface is wiped clean. To learn more, you can also read our posts on why 911 operators are so rude, why judges are so rude, and why cops are so rude. "I held on tight but the waves kept dashing me against the wood and my leg was badly gashed. To hide injuries from visitors, children were shut into a "black hole" without bedding, ventilation or light. Another inmate, Helen Cusiter, returned to Nazareth House six or seven years ago, to visit a woman who was working there. In the grounds, he noticed that where once there were playing fields there was now a children's nursery. But many nuns never had the chance to break the cycle. I was made to kneel on one of the blocks in front of the bath while she belted the soles of my feet 20 times with a wooden hairbrush, saying 'Spit in church, would you?' It can also lead to nuns lashing out at others due to their discomfort. "She especially hated me. Eoin O'Sullivan, the Irish historian of Catholic orphanages and schools, cites a very public challenge to the church by Father Flanagan, the priest whose humane childcare was the model for Spencer Tracy in the film, Men Of Boys Town. And they didn't beat me." "Most of the time he was like a recluse. To this day I cannot go into a loft or a small room and I sleep with the light on because of that. They also far outnumber priests. But by and large, theyre much nicer than they used to be. More than 400 former residents are planning to sue the order over what they claim was cruel, unnecessary and harmful treatment suffered at the hands of the Sisters. There they found a disciplined regime which, they say, tipped over into violence. She also wants the Vatican to require Catholic leaders to contact police right away if they are confronted with abuse, rather than alerting local bishops or other church hierarchy first. Joseph had been left alone in verminous conditions. These people told you that you were the scum of the earth. Archaic teaching methods are now seen as barbaric. The nun would roll her sleeves up, so she got a real good whack. Currie is one of the organisers. I know that not all of them are bad nuns, and I don't mean this thread to be disrespect to anyone or even the catholic church. ", Some former residents say they were sexually abused - Cusiter remembers a driver who "would touch up the boys and the girls" and, she says, a child would often be used to keep watch while one of the handymen pursued his sexual relationship with a nun - but most of the cases against the Sisters of Nazareth concern physical violence. This vow means they will not have sex or engage in sexual activity, leading to frustration and feeling trapped. It is to be a test case, in which 11 former inmates will appear in court, and is expected to be heard in Scotland later this year. The allegations stretch back as far as 50 years and are as recent as the 1970s. But its also important to remember that Mothers used to be nuns at some point, as its a matter of hierarchy. It was so tragic. 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